I needed a pan of squares for the church Christmas Dinner and wanted to bring something festive, sweet, and full of flavour, so I chose a Christmas favourite, Butterscotch Bars. The recipe comes my well-used copy of Company's Coming: 150 Delicious Squares by Jean Pare.

The actual name is Oh Henry Butterscotch, but without the chocolate nutty covering, it doesn't seem like the Oh Henry bars, so we always call them plain old Butterscotch Bars.

I double most recipes, which is why you see 2 pans in most photos. ​

Company's Coming: 150 Delicious Squares by Jean Pare

Butterscotch Bars from Company's Coming: 150 Delicious Squares

Since parchment paper came on the scene for home bakers, I line everything with it as I hate ruining my pans with sharp knives and the parchment allows me to lift the food right out and then cut.

The recipe calls for graham crackers, and I used some for the bottom of a pan to show you how they fit, which isn't well. You have to break them.

Instead, I like using Christie's Toppables. They are a soft cracker without salted tops, and fit perfectly into a 9" square pan.

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Toppables Crackers by Christie

Top pan lined with Toppables, bottom pan lined with Graham Crackers

Combine the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla in a large saucepan. ​

​Bring it to a boil, and then simmer for 5 mins.

Remove from the heat.

Add the graham cracker crumbs.​

Mix the graham crackers crumbs until it's all well combined - remember, this is OFF the heat now.​

Pour it carefully over the crackers in the pan(s).​

Add another layer of crackers on top.

COOL!

I put my pans in the fridge because it is so much easier to ice when it's cooled.

Because I wanted a festive look, I added Red and Green sprinkles while the icing was still soft.

In the following photo, the foreground shows the bars made with the Toppables, and the rest is from the pan with a graham cracker base. On the right of the image, you can see where I've turned one of each bar on an edge to show you the different undersides.

Butterscotch Bars made with Toppables base foreground and front right. Rest all have graham cracker base.

I brought one pan of Butterscotch Bars to the church, and the rest packed and ready for the freezer.

The image below shows the Oh Henry Butterscotch from Company's Coming: 150 Delicious Squares. Theirs are slightly higher. Mine would be higher if I used an 8" square pan instead of the 9", however, the icing would be thicker, too.

Kitchen Journal

I've kept a kitchen journal for years to help me locate favourite recipes in my 100 cook book collection. The journal was especially handy during the years I entered baking products in local and provincial fairs.As I taught my children how to bake first and then cook, they filled in their own journals. I still have my girls' journals although they may have started 'grown up' ones when they left home. These handwritten journals are a treasure trove of recipes, personal observations, and culinary rewards. However, our handwritten journals fail in the ability to share recipes and kitchen knowledge. That's where this new online journal takes over. Please join us (the Draper's Acres crew) by sharing your own observations in a comment or by emailing us through our contact page.